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_%ijt gtlifrg of J^istor jj: 
AN ADDRESS 

DELIVERED AT THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

jfrwjjnlii ^atmg luuieg' ientraimj; 

FREEHOLD, N. J., 



JDLY ao, 1853, 



By ROBERT DAVIDSON, D. D 



[PUBLISHED by request.] 



NEW-BRUNSWICK, N. J. 

PRESS OF J. TERHUNK & SON, 31 ALBANY-STREET. 

MDCCCLIII. 



0-1 '& Dl 









.1)3 



ADDRESS &c. 



Young Ladies of the Fkeehold Seminary: 

It is very natural that we should desire to shun, on such 
an occasion as this, every thing trite and hackneyed. The 
great subject of Education, — its principles, developments, 
and results, as well as its importance to the female sex, — is 
an exhausted field, and offers no fresh laurels. It is pro- 
posed, therefore, to choose a theme at once suitable to your 
years and studies, agreeable to a promiscuous audience, and 
instructive to all. Such a theme presents itself in The 
Study of History, 

History has ever, and deservedly, held a high place in 
the estimation of mankind. Of the daughters of Memory, 
Clio, the eldest born, has not been least honored. To her 
have appertained the birth-right, and the double portion. 
In the anaglyphs of Egypt, the arrow-heads of Nineveh, and 
the picture writings of the Aztecs, we discern the labors of 
the never-absent annalist. Of the Sacred Scriptures, revered 
by us as traced under the superintendence of a hand from 
heaven, a third part are historical. 

The uncertainty of History has sometimes indeed been 
objected against this branch of knowledge. We are told 
that while Sir "Walter Ealeigh was preparing his History of 
the World, he saw a fray from his window; and mixing 
afterwards with some of the spectators, he was amazed at the 
discrepancy of their accounts, accounts varying from each 
other not only, but totally irreconcileable with the facts as 
they had appeared to himself. The story adds that Raleigh 



returned to his chamber, and in a pet threw his manuscripts 
into the fire, saying, that if it was so difficult to learn the 
truth, in regard to the most recent affairs, no reliance could 
be placed upon traditions collected and recorded by histo- 
rians at a distance from the scenes they described. The story 
reads smoothly, and hath a sharp twang of a moral ; pity it 
is, that the work specified, the History of the World, sur- 
vives in print, to stamp the whole of the narrative as apoc- 
ryphal. 

If History is uncertain, where is the blame to rest? It is 
the historian's office diligently to collect all the traditionary 
notices within his reach, and exercise his judgment in sifting 
and assorting them. He makes up his mind not from 
isolated, but concurrent, sources of information. This is a 
work of discrimination solely. If the traditions are incom- 
plete, or incorrect, or discolored by prejudice, he is not at 
liberty to travel beyond the record. He dares not invent 
facts or incidents. He must be content to take what he 
finds ready made to his hand. Invention is the prerogative 
of the Novelist, not his. 

History is neither an exact, nor an experimental science. 
The principles of Geometry are as much settled, and beyond 
amendment as they ever will be. Cubes and cones have 
been always the same ; and Euclid, and Diophantus were 
perfect within their proper limits. As for the Experimental 
Sciences, they have improved greatly of late years, and are 
taking rapid strides towards exactness. The dreamer of 
olden time bent over his crucible to transmute base metals 
into precious ; or, amid fumes and formulas of the Eed Lion 
and the Lily, and mayhap less innocent adjurations, sought 
to extract an Elixir of perpetual youth. The Scientific 
Chemist of modern times, pursuing his researches only as 
the Interpreter of Nature, adjusts atom to atom, and volume 
to volume, with almost mathematical precision 

History belongs to another department. It is one of the 
Moral Sciences. Its aims and ends are of a high moral 



character. To it Ethics and Politics confess their obligations. 
Like them, its field is indeterminate, and not capable of 
being measured with rule and callipers. It does not claim 
to work out its results with the precision of geometry ; nor 
is it able to repeat the past till it has modelled, it to its 
wishes. The materials it employs are sometimes the most 
shadowy, indistinct, and imponderable; a word, a look, a 
thought. Why then should History be judged more harshly 
than the other Moral Sciences? It has to grapple with 
Human Nature in its ever shifting, slippery, Protean phases, 
and opal lights, that mock the hues of the dying dolphin. 
The Chemist, the Naturalist, the Geologist, appeal to rec- 
ords, traced by the finger of Nature, which is incapable of 
deceiving ; but the Historian depends upon testimonies often 
involuntarily, and sometimes designedly, unreliable. His is 
a silent and sombre path among the catacombs. He needs 
to hold fast to his clue, or he will speedily lose his way, and 
be stifled by the dust from a thousand crumbling skeletons. 

Judgment and discrimination are therefore the prime 
qualifications, which fit the Historian for his task ; and there 
is no reason why we should not confide the opinion or 
the guidance of a judicious writer in the domain of History, 
as much as in the domains of Law or Commerce. 

Who can help admiring the noble spirit that pervades the 
opening paragraph of Tacitus. "Even in the time of 
Augustus there flourished a race of authors, from whose 
abilities that period might have received ample justice ; but 
the spirit of adulation growing epidemic, the dignity of the 
historic character was lost. During the lives of those em- 
perors, [succeeding Augustus,] fear suppressed or disfigured 
the truth; and after their deaths, recent feelings gave an 
edge to resentment. For this reason, it is my intention 
shortly to .state some particulars relating to Augustus, 
chiefly towards the close of his life ; and thence to follow 
downward the thread of my narration through the reigns of 
Tiberius, and his three immediate successors, free from an- 



imosity, and partial affection, with the candor of a man 
who has no motives, either of love or hatred, to warp his 
integrity." — (Annals, bk. I. 1.) 

There is reason to believe that History has suffered, also, 
from the, parasites that have fastened, and fattened upon it. 
The glut of Historical Novels, and the Romance of History, 
have created a prejudice against the benefactress to which 
they owed their precarious existence, as if it were equally 
trivial and frivolous with themselves. But this objection 
should really have no more force than the barnacles that 
attach themselves to a ship's bottom. They form no part 
of the ship. Their adhesion is purely accidental. So it is 
with the writers of historical novels, and of books entitled 
the Romance of History. Their morbid and dainty appetite 
rejects solid reading, and they select the lighter portions 
only for their purpose. In fact this is the flag under which 
they sail. They do not attempt to deceive. They openty 
acknowledge that amusement is their aim. Since therefore 
they, exsect so carefully the solid and weighty portions, and 
skim nothing but the froth upon the surface, it is unjust to 
make the Historic muse responsible for their levities. 
Enough of gravity and dignity will be found remaining for 
those who have sense to appreciate them. 

The most brilliant and successful author in this line was 
Sir Walter Scott. The fecundity of his genius was astonish- 
ing. His learning was extensive, and of the rarest kind. 
The antiquarian lore lavished on the notes to his poems 
might have sufficed to give a reputation to other men. But 
with him it flowed without effort. His thoughts ran in that 
channel. He was under no necessity of rummaging his 
library, and cramming for the occasion. His antiquarian 
knowledge was not like a pump which requires force to 
make it yield its crystal hoard, but rather like a natural 
fountain, whose waters bubble and gush up in an exhaust- 
less stream. Scott's mind resembled his own Abbotsford. 
That mediaeval structure, a romance in stone and lime, was 



the embodiment of his habitual turn of thought. But 
charming and fascinating as was this great master of the pen, 
his accuracy was not unimpeachable. He sacrificed truth 
to effect. He sometimes misrepresented characters, or held 
them up in a ridiculous light. The minstrel of princes, and 
the favorite of the drawing-room, in his eyes the splendor of 
chivalry atoned for the miseries of vassalage, and the prestige 
of high birth, like the mantle of Charity, covered a multi- 
tude of sins. His genius glorified only what was in harmo- 
ny with Tory principles, and aristocratic usages ; and what 
he disliked was sure to be painted in exaggerated colors. 
Had the sturdy Scots who fought for Christ's crown and 
covenant, been gentlemen instead of peasants, or Jacobites 
instead of Cameronians, or had they been "out in the '45," 
we would have had a very different picture of them. 
Balfour of Burley would have been made as attractive as 
Claverhouse, and the portrait of Mause Headrigg would 
have been supplanted by a counterpart of sweet Jeanie 
Deans. But with all his faults it must be conceded, that 
Scott drew the attention of many to history, that they might 
better understand his novels ; and they who relished the 
productions of his pen, could not endure the stuff that flow- 
ed from his successors, 

" In one weak, washy, everlasting flood." 

Whatever abatements we might be willing to concede to 
the genius, taste, and negatively moral influence of the great 
Coryphaeus, we cannot extend the same indulgence to the 
tribe of his imitators. The effect of their labors has un- 
doubtedly been to create a superficial taste, to emasculate 
the mind, to give a disrelish for solid and manly reading, to 
foster a morbid craving for stimulants, and to inspire a dis- 
gust for history itself apart from the piquant sauce of a 
prurient fancy. 

Objections having been disposed of, let us turn our atten- 
tion to the advantages, which result from the study of 
History. 



If Entertainment is the object in view, we know not where 
a more healthy and rational entertainment can be found. 
It brings into play enough of thought to prevent stagnation, 
and to give a gentle fillip to the mind ; while it does not 
tax the intellect so severety, as the differential calculus, or 
some profound professional text-book. We may have been 
jaded by the toils of our daily occupation, but the perusal of 
Kobertson's Charles Y. or Macaulay,s England, acts as a re- 
freshing restorative. "When I mix with the world," ob- 
served Yoltaire, "I am subject to every man's humor; but 
when I enter a library, every man's humor becomes subject 
to me." " A chair in a tavern," said Dr. Johnson, " is the 
throne of human felicity." " He would have been more 
correct," remarked Dr. Eush, "had he placed that chair in a 
library. It is in this repository of the fruits of intellectual 
labor, that we find an epitome of human knowledge. Here 
the historian informs, the traveller amuses, the poet delights, 
and the philosopher instructs us. Here, past and present 
time unite ; here, all the quarters of our globe, with their 
kingdoms, and customs, are seen in miniature, and here we 
find an abstract of all the opinions and systems of knowl- 
edge, that have ever existed in the world." 

People must have amusement, especially the young. And 
it is of the last importance, that they should have such 
amusements as will relax without debasing them. The 
degenerate Eomans demanded bread and games ; the modern 
Romans are bribed with fire- works and illuminations ; the 
Spaniard is never so happy, as at a bull-fight, or a fandango ; 
the Americans, 

" Intent on high designs, a thoughtful band.'' 

have scarcely any popular amusements at all. Hence it is 
that in the dearth of innocent excitement, so many resort to 
low and sensual stimulants, and prepare for themselves a 
downward path of shame and degradation. But our very 
amusements should contribute to the encouragement of 
virtue, and furnish a rational mode of spending time, and 



relaxing the mind, without the aid of frivolity or vice. Such 
a rational, profitable, and elevating recreation we possess in 
History. 

Where can we find more varied or elegant entertainment 
than in the pages of Plutarch, or Froissart, or Robertson, or 
Carlyle's French Revolution, or Alison's Europe, or Macau- 
lay's England, or Lamartine's Girondists, or Bancroft's 
United States? In truth, History may vie with Poetry and Ro- 
mance in the thrilling interest of its revelations. Shakspeare 
diligently worked this rich mine in his Historical Plays, to 
which some, oblivious of the sources whence they were 
drawn, have acknowledged themselves indebted for nearly all 
their acquaintance with British annals! The student seats 
himself in his quiet nook, as the shades of evening close 
around ; and other suns, long since set, rise again to view ; 
" the famous dead" are evoked from their remote sepulture ; 
and the panorama of the world's eventful progress silently 
unrolls before him. 

" 'Tis pleasant through the loop holes of retreat 

To peep at such a world ; to see the stir 

Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd : 

Thus sitting, and surveying thus at ease 

The globe and its concerns, I seem advanced 

To some secure and more than mortal height, 

That liberates and exempts me from them all. 

It turns submitted to my view, turns round 

With all its generations ; I behold 

The tumult, and am still. The sound of war 

Has lost its terrors ere it reaches me ; 

Grieves, but alarms me not. ***** 

He travels and expatiates, as the bee 

From flower to flower, so he from land to land; 

The manners, customs, policy of all 

Pay contribution to the store he gleans ; 

He sucks intelligence in every clime, 

And spreads the honey of his deep research 

At his return— a rich repast for me. 

He travels, and I too. I tread his deck, 

Ascend his topmast, through his peering eyes 

Discover countries, with a kindred heart 

2 



10 

Suffer his woes, and share in his escapes ; 
While fancy, like the finger of a clock, 
Runs the great circuit, and is still at home." 

We are not shut up to fiction. Truth has a novelty and 
an interest not a whit inferior. "Were we permitted to visit 
another planet, how eagerly would we investigate rte pro- 
ductions, its inhabitants, its laws, its manners, and customs! 
We would be absorbed in this occupation to the exclusion 
of every other. But, in fact, the history of past generations 
of our own planet is hardly less new or strange, and may be 
made fully as attractive. 

The sources of a river, the Niger or the Nile, have been 
investigated with the greatest eagerness ; why should there 
be less curiosity to trace the history of a nation to its foun- 
tain-head, and learn what influence the character of the pro- 
genitors had on that of their posterity ? We are not restrict- 
ed to the limited range of our forefathers. We have escaped 
from the dreary prolixity of Rapin, and the parliamentary 
abstracts of Smollet. Modern writers have found out the 
difficult art of blending imagination with reason. Robertson, 
Michelet, Lamartine, but above all, England's latest brilliant 
and fascinating historian, have sufficiently demonstrated that 
a volume of history may be made as interesting, and as 
much sought after as the last novel. And why should it be 
otherwise? Imagination, well trained, is able to re-people 
the past, not with rigid, unimpassioned skeletons, but with 
warm, breathing, living men. It shows us the same human 
heart, with its susceptibilities, its deep emotions, its myste- 
rious undertones, its faith, its enthusiasm, its strange incon- 
sistencies, pulsating alike beneath the toga, the cuirass, the 
jacket, and the chasuble. 

" The proper study of mankind is man ; 

and it is the office of History to make us acquainted with 
our species, and show us all the varieties of the race civilized 
or savage. Thus doth this Mysteriarch of the Ages revivify 






11 

the past, solve enigmas, reconcile contradictions, and hold 
up the lamp of Experience to the dim and misty future. 

Such are the elevated entertainments, such the pure de- 
lights which the Muse of History unfolds before the youth- 
ful and observant mind, and which need not the false lights 
of fairy land, nor the exaggerations of as unreal romance to 
enhance their attractions. These are 

"Cups that cheer, but not inebriate." 

We do not rest our apologetics for the study of History 
upon the ground of entertainment merely ; it claims respect 
for the rich Instruction with which it teems. The sentiment 
which the sage of Halicarnassus dropped near two thousand 
years ago, has been endorsed by the wisdom of succeeding 
generations, and has grown to the dignity of a proverb ; 
"History is Philosophy teaching by example." 

Instruction communicated in this way is very lively and 
impressive. Horace tells us that it was thus his father in- 
spired his youthful miud with detestation of vice, and love 
of its opposite. The grave Senator, the spendthrift Albius, 
the profligate Trebonius, in turn were made the occasion of 
wholesome advice. But it is not always judicious, or safe, 
to make free with the names of contemporaries. It is more 
prudent to select illustrations from the storied page, " rich 
with the spoils of time." Let Phocion and Regulus, Aris- 
tides and Fabricius, continue patterns of integrity to the 
youth of future generations, as they were to our own. Let 
Alexander's drunkenness, and Caesar's ambition still "point 
a moral and adorn a tale." Let the Roman Emperors illus- 
trate the precariousness and corrupting influence of irre- 
sponsible power. Let Cincinnatus and Washington furnish 
examples of pure and disinterested patriotism. Let Arnold 
and like names, "Whom 'tis unblest to mention," be the 
beacons to warn from a traitor's grave. Let Cornelia ex- 
hibit her jewels, and Cleopatra point her asp. Let Margaret 
of Anjou teach her own sex courage, and the fate of La 
Valliere confirm them in modesty. 



12 

Historical researches furnish, a fruitful source of Political 
Philosophy of the profoundest and most practical sort. 
Once, battles, sieges, and the actions of kings were thought 
the sole facts worth recording ; and these were set off with 
all the beauties of style and the particularity of an amateur. 
Whatever concerned the masses was kept in the back-ground 
as unworthy of attention ; as in the wall-paintings of Egypt, 
the king is magnified into a colossus, while his own, and the 
opposing armies dwindle into pigmies. But those days are 
past. Wars now are viewed by the philosophical historian 
as blemishes and excrescences ; subjects of regret rather than 
admiration ; occasional and insignificant trivialities compared 
with the great sum of human destiny ; retarding the pro- 
gress of the human race, and putting farther off the millenial 
era of universal brotherhood, 

" The parliament of man, the federation of the world." 

The old-fashioned buckram dignity of history has disap- 
peared and nothing that contributes to illustrate- life and 
manners is deemed unworthy of notice. The prying eye 
is carried into every nook and corner ; literature, commerce, 
the arts, public ceremonies and private manners, are dili- 
gently scrutinized, and the entire Past is faithfully repro- 
duced, and stands forth like a disinterred Pompeii. 

Thus the hidden springs of action are unveiled, and their 
true motives are brought to light. We see the ambitious 
Eichelieu, when the foundations of royal favor are tottering 
under him, secretly giving orders that a battle should be lost 
by the French army, that in the confusion which should 
ensue, the king might find himself compelled to retain him 
in his councils as the only man on whom he could rely in 
such an exigency. 

We explore the rise and fall of empires. We behold 
Eome steadily rising from small beginnings, to the domin- 
ion of the world, and advancing the curule chair above 
thrones and sceptres, till at last grown un wieldly and corrupt, 
it gradually dies at the extremities before vitality ceases at 
the heart. 



13 

We scrutinize the revolutions of States, analyze their 
internal feuds, and detect the weak points of their institu- 
tions. What a subtle and sagacious parallel has Machiavelli 
drawn between the conflicting states of Greece, and those of 
Italy, in his Decades on Livy ! While the British revolution 
steadily diminished the royal prerogative and advanced the 
popular influence, those of France have three times served 
only to show the facility with which a single individual, 
having firmly clutched the reins of government, may thwart 
the wishes of an entire people. From the instability of the 
French, some have inferred the unfitness of the national 
manners for a republican form of government ; others be- 
hold in the condition of Spain and Ireland, the reciprocal 
evil influence of a bad government on the habits 6f the 
people ; and nothing is plainer than that the foundations of 
our own political institutions were laid centuries ago in the 
habits of the colonies, and of their ancestry. 

It is impartial History alone that can help us to under- 
stand these riddles, and which, lifting a corner of the veil 
that hides the past, lets in an affluent light upon all that it 
concerns us most to know. It exposes the evils of both 
anarchy and despotism, and shows how the one prepares 
the way for the other, by that fatal oscillation of all sublu- 
nary things, which forbids them to remain stationary. 
Action and reaction balance each other, and in some antag- 
onisms so equally, that neither side can claim any advantage ; 
as it was in that famous sortie commemorated by Sully. 
Two towns in France were at war ; and on a certain dark 
night each plotted the surprize and capture of the other. 
The respective men-at-arms, sallying forth by opposite cir- 
cuits, did not meet, and accordingly daylight revealed the 
ridiculous spectacle of each army in possession of the other 
hostile town, while their own wives and children were in 
turn captives. Nothing was now to be done, but to negotiate a 
mutual surrender on equal terms, as speedily as possible. — 
Thus we see in the strifes and controversies of by-gone days, 



14 

vanquished Greece giving Eome letters, Christianity borrow- 
ing ceremonies from Paganism, the Goths learning from the 
Italians, and the Crusaders importing improvements from 
the Saracens. 

There is another lesson which History teaches in her most 
solemn tones, and which should be graven with a pen of 
iron on the rock forever. That lesson is the advantage of 
unity, and the mischief of faction. "We read it in the fate 
of the small states of Greece, ever striving for supremacy. 

" Then first the change began, when Greece with Greece 
Embroiled in foul contention, fought no more, 
For common glory, and for common good : 
But false to Freedom, fought to quell the Free ; 
Broke the firm band of peace, and sacred love, 
That lent the whole unconquerable force." 

We read the same lesson in the virtue of the old Achaean 
league ; and of the great Lombard league against Frederick 
Barbarossa. Warned by such testimonies, our nation should 
frown down every factious and divisive scheme, and nip it 
in the bud. For us the maxim has an awful and portentous 
meaning, Union is Strength, Division is political suicide. 

History is invaluable to the Publicist. Such books as Hal- 
lam's Middle Ages, and Constitutional History of England, 
should be familiar to every one interested in the study of 
government. There he has a clear and comprehensive view 
of the nature of the feudal system, its tenures, its tyranny, 
and its villenage ; the origin of franchises and of boroughs ; 
habeas corpus, and trial by jury ; the balance of power 
between the crown, the nobles and that middle class, which 
their neighbors across the channel were so much concerned 
to find, The Third Estate. 

History is to the Statesman what the chart is to the sailor ; 
marking the capes and headlands, the reefs and shoals, the 
sunken rocks and safe harbors. Thus he is admonished 
against the possible perils that may assail the ship of state 
and wreck its fairest prospects. Storms may indeed arise, 
which no pilot, however accomplished, can either prevent or 



15 

lay ; but by his skill and experience lie may keep all snug, 
and outride the storm in safety. Not only as regards general 
principles, is History thus useful, but it preserves the 
records of law and treaties, ignorance of which might subject 
to disastrous consequences. How much forgotten History 
was brought forward from its dusty crypts during the Oregon 
dispute, and in what a disgraceful dilemma would our Sec- 
retary of State have been placed, had he not been familiar 
with the stipulations of Utrecht. Some thoughtless youth 
might say, what have we to do with the old mouldy 
treaty of Utrecht ? But if he had fallen in a war brought 
about by a supposed infringement of that Treaty, he would 
have found to his sorrow, what interest he had in it. 

Each of our citizens may aspire to the highest office in 
the land, and does, by his vote, assist in placing some com- 
petent stateman there ; and therefore each individual should 
have such an acquaintance with the important interests of 
which that statesman is to take charge, as that he shall 
know to what policy he is committing himself. Socrates, 
meeting Alcibiades, questioned him about the science of 
government and public affairs ; but a few skillful queries 
compelled 'him to confess that he who aspired to lead the 
councils of Athens, was ignorant of the first principles that 
should guide him. Many such a blushing sciolist, it is to be 
feared, may be found in our country and in our day. 

There is a fine illustration of the influence wielded by 
the accomplished Publicist, in the ancient tribe of Issachar. 
The heads of the tribes numbered not over two hundred on 
the roll; but they were men that had understanding of the 
times, to know what Israel ought to do ; they were versed 
in History and politics, and other cognate sciences ; and 
mark the pregnant record so naively added! "All their 
brethren were at their commandment. ' ' That was a specimen 
of commanding influence. 

Not only the Statesman, but the Prator is under obliga- 
tions to the Historic Muse, for some of his choicest illustra- 



16 

tions and precedents. From Gamaliel, thelearned Pharisee, 
down to Vergniaud, the eloquent Girondist, an apt citation of 
pertinent precedents from History, has never failed to prove 
a powerful weapon in the hands of the orator. 

Who would venture to pronounce the Divine completely 
furnished without a knowledge of Ecclesiastical History ? 
Not only should the clergyman be versed in the general 
history of the world, in common with all educated men, 
but he must add to this an intimate acquaintance with that 
of the Church. It will render him skilful in detecting and 
exposing the revival of exploded heresies ; it will fortify 
him on doubtful or disputed points with the common 
belief of Christendom ; it will qualify him to battle with 
schism, and put to silence the infidel. The history of a 
doctrine or a ceremony is sometimes as good as an argu- 
ment for or against it. The relation of the Church to the 
State, and the degree of benefit or injury thence resulting 
to either; the gradual growth of hierarchical power; the 
vexed questions of concordats, investitures, and patronage, 
may be investigated with more or less interest even in the 
United States, on account of the important principles in- 
volved. So also the Theology and the Sects of the Middle 
Ages may form a study of intense interest to the laity of 
the present day, when so many strenuous efforts are made 
to revive and glorify them. The Church owes an incalcula- 
ble debt to Neander and D'Aubigne for their inimitable 
contributions to this branch of science, and for their efforts 
to exhibit the Church as a living witness of the divine power 
of the gospel. 

But it is not to-grave Senators and public personages alone 

that we would restrict the study of History, it will be found 
both profitable and interesting by the Female Sex also, 
though of course they will not be expected to dive into its 
most recondite depths. This was the opinion of Dr. Fordyce, 
an old English author of repute, who not content with 
merely recommending the study, placed it in the front rank. 



17 

" First, 1 ' says he, I would observe that History, in which 
I include Biography and Memoirs, ought to employ a 
considerable share of your leisure. Those pictures which it 
exhibits, of the passions operating in real life and genuine 
characters ; of virtues to be imitated, and of vices to be shun- 
ned ; of the effects of both on society and individuals ; of the 
mutability of human affairs; of the conduct of Divine 
Providence; of the great consequences that often arise 
from little events ; of the weakness of power, and the wan- 
derings of prudence, in mortal men ; with the sudden, 
unexpected, and frequently unaccountable revolutions, that 
dash triumphant wickedness, or disappoint presumptuous 
hope.; — the pictures, I say, which History exhibits of all 
these, have been ever reckoned by the best j udges amongst 
the richest sources of instruction and entertainment." 

I am happy to be able to adduce in the support of 
this position, so high an authority as Dr. Sprague, 
whose elegant and facile pen is an ornament to our own 
country. The remarks about to be quoted are found in his 
Letters to a Daughter, an admirable work, which should be- 
in the hands and in the heart of every young lady in the 
land, 

"I have adverted/' says Dr. Sprague, "to History. 
This I would have you study not merely with a view to 
gratify curiosity, but as containing an instructive record of 
human actions, and as furnishing an important means of 
becoming acquainted with the operations of the human 
heart ; for what the nature of man has been, so it is now ; 
.and its operations are the same, making due allowance for 
diversity of circumstances. *■.■■*.-•*# * 
"While I would have you familiar with every part of History, 
both aneient and modern, I would recommend a special 
attention to the history of your own country ; not only be- 
cause it is your own, but because it is the land which seems 
to be marching forward in the order of Providence to a 
more glorious destiny than any other." 



18 

I cannot refrain from adding here the views of this dis- 
tinguished writer, on the subject of novel-reading. Speaking 
of works of fiction generally, and admitting the artistic skill 
and even moral tendency of some of them, he continues, 
"I cannot doubt that the time which you would occupy in 
reading them might be employed to better purpose in study- 
ing the actual realities of life, as they are exhibited by the 
biographer or the historian ; and moreover, there is danger, 
if you begin to read works of fiction, with an intention to 
read but few, and to confine yourself to' the better class, that 
your relish for these productions will increase, till you can 
scarcely feel at home unless the pages of a novel are spread 
out before you ; and what is still more to be dreaded, that 
you will read indiscriminately, the most corrupt as well as 
the least exceptionable. You may rest assured that a character 
formed under the influence of novel-reading, is miserably 
fitted for any of the purposes of practical life. ^ ^ 
I say then, as you would avoid forming a character which com- 
bines all the elements of insipidity, corruption, and moral 
death, beware of the reading of novels. Many a young 
female has been obliged to trace to this cause, the destruction 
of her principles, her character, and ultimately her life ; and if 
she have escaped these greater evils, she is still unfitted for 
solid intellectual enjoyment, and for a life of active useful- 
ness." 

" Ye novelists, who mar what ye would mend, 
Sniv'ling and driv'ling folly without end ; 
O that a verse had power, and could command 
Far, far away these flesh flies of the land ! ' 

But while I would lure you to the pursuit of the more 
solid branches of polite literature, far be it from my aim to 
expose you to the charge of pedantry or affectation. Pedan- 
try is disgusting enough in man, but in a woman it is 
the incarnation of unloveliness. But there is no necessity 
for such a result. A modest woman, with a well-balanced 
and well-informed mind, will naturally fall into her place, 
and sustain her part in intelligent society, without seeking 



19 

to shine, to take the lead, or to show off her accomplishments. 
If there has been occasionally a De Bambouillet or a Mon- 
tagu who has offended in this way, we can point to an 
Aspasia, who fastened Pericles to her side by the unaffected 
charms of her conversation ; to a Maintenon, who reclaimed 
her royal lover from his roving fancies ; to a More, more pure 
than the one, more pious than the other, whose society was 
eagerly sought to the very close of her protracted life. It 
is only the superficial and the half-taught that make a dis- 
play of a little second-hand learning ; the well -instructed of 
either sex are not guilty of such impertinence. I would 
not have you a Bas Bleu, attracting the hatred of one sex 
and the ridicule of the other ; but on the contrary, 

" A creature not too bright or good 
For human nature's daily food ; 
A perfect woman, nobly planned, 
To warn, to comfort, to command." 

Fraught with rich instruction as the Study of History 
must be confessed to be, there is another signal benefit re- 
sulting from its pursuit, its tendency to enlarge and liberalize 
the mind. This is an object of incomparably grander im- 
portance than even that which we have just been considering, 
the one being but a means, the other an end. What would 
be the advantage of storing the memory with facts, with dates, 
with names, if the capacity of making use of them is wanting? 
The true instructiveness of history consists in its aiding the 
reflecting mind to classify, to arrange, to discriminate, to gen- 
eralize, to deduce sound and practical conclusions, and putthe 
experience of past generations in a shape to benefit posterity. 

It is difficult to conceive how a person versed in general 
history can be a narrow-minded man. The mere mathema- 
tician, the mere metaphysician, the mere linguist, the mere 
lawyer, the mere theoloigan, may gyrate within the very 
small circumference to which professional habit has chained 
him ; but the historian demands a wider range. He sails 
on bolder wing, and from a lofty elevation takes a bird's-eye 



20 

view of the oceans and continents beneath. Petty details 
are merged in the grand effect of the comprehensive pros- 
pect,|and the due relation of its various parts to each other 
and to the whole, is carefully noted. 

In fact, History, like traveling, dissipates prejudices, and 
corrects or modifies preconceived notions. It teaches to 
make allowance for national differences and variant modes 
of education and thinking. It sees something that is good 
in all, as well as evil, and takes pleasure in discovering 
points of agreement and harmony. It detects the existence 
of the same common feelings under every variety of feature 
and complexion, and owns that "one touch of nature makes 
the whole world kin." It is ignorance and want of intercourse 
that perpetuate national antipathies, which are in conse- 
quence, forced to justify themselves by the most frivolous 
pretexts ; as the British sailor hated the French because 
they wore wooden shoes. If the different nations could see 
more, or learn more, of each other, they would find 
cause for mutual admiration and esteem. The Chinese, who 
hoot at the civilized European as a Fan-qui, or Foreign 
Devil, and in whose geography their own country monopo- 
lizes the map, while the rest of the world is thrust into the 
corners, would never be guilty of such ridiculous conceit, if 
they were better acquainted with the history and resources 
of the nations they deride. How can we be surprised that 
so much prejudice against our own country prevails in Eu- 
rope, when scarcely anything is known of it, and half the 
people believe that the Americans are copper-colored ! Even 
Tytler, whose Epitome of General History is the text-book 
in Great Britain, has not a single chapter on the United 
States ; two or three paragraphs alone being allotted to the 
War of the Revolution, and that of 1812. In the editions 
which we use, the deficiency is supplied by an American 
writer. Perhaps after a few more yachts, and ocean-steam- 
ers, and statuary, and locks, and steam -plowing, the haughty 
Islanders will become aware of the existence of a rival 



21 

across the Atlantic which bids fair to transfer to herself the 
proud title of queen of commerce and mistress of the seas. 

Religious intolerance also, as well as every other form of 
bigotry must disappear before the increase of historical knowl- 
edge. Intolerance, which is seen to be so unlovely in its 
faithful record, arises from inattention to the just limits of 
authority, to the natural right of freedom of opinion, and 
to the out cropping in one direction of what was suppressed 
in another. 

" The time has gone by," says an acute writer, " when 
more general knowledge and higher studies, were deemed 
superfluous, to all except professional men, — the lawyer, the 
physician, - or the divine. It is now admitted by many of 
the best judges, that a more liberal education, either Academ- 
ical or Collegiate, may be alike beneficial to the Farmer 
the Mechanic, and the Merchant ; as serving to expand and 
quicken the mind, and to prepare the aspiring youth, not only 
for engaging in the labors of his profession, but for adorn- 
ing a higher station,' and becoming more extensivelv useful 
should prosperity attend his career. At least, the study of 
languages and calculative processes, of mental and phvsical 
philosophy, of historical and political truths, of the works 
of nature and of art, will lay a wide basis for intellectual 
cultivation ; and it will be the student's own fault if it is not 
improved, for his secular and eternal benefit." 

He who lives entirely in the present and for the present 
can attach little more dignity or importance to his pursuits 
that the ephemeral insect whose little life is comprised within 
the rising and setting of the sun, and which sports away its 
brief hour on careless wing. On the contrary, by studying 
the past, and scanning the future, we as it were, multiply 
our existence, and concentrate the light, the knowledge, and 
the glory of all ages on our own. 

" We live, says Bohngbroke, with the men who lived 
before us, and we inhabit countries that we never saw. 
Place is enlarged, and time prolonged in this manner ; so 



22 

that the man who applies himself early to the study of his- 
tory, may acquire in a few years, and before he sets his foot 
abroad in the world, not only a more extended knowledge 
of mankind, but the experience of more centuries than the 
patriarchs saw. *...*.*.-# Experience is 

doubly defective ; we are born too late to see the beginning, 
and we die too soon to see the end of many things. History 
supplies both these defects." 

Time will not permit more than a word or two on The 
Method of Studying History. But we may observe that 
History should be studied systematically. As beginners, 
with the best intentions in the world, are sometimes at a loss 
to know what to select, the following books may be recom- 
mended as a brief course of Historical reading. To abridge 
it as much as possible, those works which must be regarded 
as absolutely indispensable, are put in italics ; — Oleig's His- 
tory of the Bible ; Eollin's Ancient History ; Tytler's Universal 
History ; Plutarch's Parallels ; Gibbon's Decline and Fall of 
the Eoman Empire ; Sismondi's Italian Republics ; Hal- 
lam's Middle Ages ; Milner's Church History ; Michelet's 
France ; Kohlrausch's Germany ; Hume's, Mcintosh's, or 
Macaulatfs England; Robertson's Charles V. and Mary 
Queen of Scots ; HAubignds History of the Reformation ; 
Irving's Columbus ; Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, 
Mexico and Peru ; Bancrofts United States ; Alison's recent 
History of Europe ; Schlegel's Philosophy of History ; Gui- 
zot's European Civilization. 

History should be studied with the map. Geography 
and Chronology are the two eyes of History. 

The habit should be formed of taking comprehensive 
views of the results, bearings and connections of past events. 
Glaring errors should be noticed, and an indiscriminate idola- 
try of antiquity avoided. Allowances must also be made 
for the peculiarities and different circumstances of nations. 
What is suitable for one is not suitable for others. Another 
thing against which we should be on our guard, is the par- 



23 

tialities of historians. One is to be modified and corrected by 
another. It is highly important to know an author's stand- 
point. 

In perusing the history of the world, we should observe 
the hand of Providence in the course of events. God devel- 
opes his will in the Holy Scriptures, in the works of Nature, 
in Conscience, and in History. By many writers the idea 
of God and Providence seems completely ignored ; by others 
it is contemptuously opposed. Following the lead of Bo- 
lingbroke, who in his famous " Letters" rejected the Old 
Testament as an authentic or reliable guide, the wily Gib- 
bon employed his seductive rhetoric to account for the early 
spread of Christianity by secondary causes alone. Watson, 
and Milman have done a good service in exposing the 
hollowness of his sophistry. To see God in History will 
afford delight to every well-trained and pious mind, for is 
not God the Maker of History ! "History," said the elo- 
quent Hungarian in one of those aphoristic gems that 
sparkled in his speeches, " History is the Book in which God 
records his counsels by deeds." To see God in History 
will furnish a key to many obscure and intricate affairs. 
It is a sublime thought that the march of Providence is 
holding on its undisturbed way, and accomplishing its great 
results, alike through the agency of individuals and the 
social life of nations. Although we may not be able to 
trace all its indistinct vestiges, and should be very careful 
not to form rash or presumptuous judgments, we may 
acquiesce in this momentous truth with a reposing confi- 
dence which will harmonize many an apparent contradiction, 
and impart to our reflections almost a prophetic value. The 
permission of evil, the calamities visited on particular nations, 
the fact that corruption works out its own punishment; 
these and similar phenomena indicate the overruling attrib- 
ute of justice ; a justice, which though it lingers, never 
sleeps. Consider that remarkable catalogue drawn up by 
Kaleigh, illustrative of the tremendous threat of visiting the 



24 

iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third 
and fourth generations. Time will not allow a detailed 
narrative, but you may trace the sentence fulfilled in the 
extinction of the race, or the diversion of the crown to 
another succession, in the cases of the I. IY. VI. VII. and 
VIII, Henries, the III and IV Edwards, and the II. and III, 
Richards of England ; Lewis Debonair, and Francis I. of 
France ; and Pedro, Ferdinand I. Charles V. and Philip II. 
of Spain. And if the great statesman were now alive, he 
might add to his list, the instructive example of the XVIth 
Louis, and Xth Charles of France. These are solemn and 
instructive warnings ; they are easily legible, and should 
not be disregarded. 

In fine, History is not to be studied as an idle recreation, 
nor to foster bigotry and prejudice ; nor to nurture a party 
spirit determined to find instances only on its own side ; nor 
to minister to personal vanity and the pedantic ostentation 
of learning; but it is to be regarded with veneration, and 
conscientiously employed, as the handmaid of Truth, the 
Interpreter of Heaven, and the Instructor of mankind. Its 
aims and aids are neither trivial, nor superfluous; its high 
mission is to elevate and dignify : to introduce to 

" an opening world 
Diviner than the soul of man hath yet 
Been gifted (o imagine — truths serene 
Made visible in beauty, that shall glow 
In everlasting freshness ; unapproached 
By mortal passion ; pure amidst the blood 
And dust of conquests ; never waxing old ; 
But on the stream of time, from age to age, 
Casting bright images of heavenly youth 
To make the world less mournful !" 

What is the proudest statue or national monument to the 
historic page, in point of value, extent, or durability ? The 
one appeals to our eye, to our imagination, and fancy ; it is 
picturesque, and poetical ; it is the index of princely power, 
or of national enthusiasm ; it is suited to a semi-barbarous 
age when reading is sparingly known : like its own marble, 



25 

it fixes one unvarying thought only, one result, one achieve- 
ment, and it announces that achievement to but one people 
and one locality. The other appeals to the reflecting powers, 
our judgment and our reason ; it commands the attention of 
the philosopher and the sage ; it not only tells of power, but it 
unfolds the secret of success; it not only commemorates great 
exploits, but it informs who and what they were that 
achieved them; it delivers its utterances not to one locality 
alone, but in the ears of all mankind. Wherever books 
penetrate, there is carried the memory of the hero. On the 
banks of the Ganges, the Hindoo youth reads of the British 
Alfred, and under the shadow of the Carpathian peaks, the op- 
pressed Magyar kindles his patriotism by the remembrance 
of Washington. 

" Though graven rocks the warrior's deeds proclaim, 

And mountains, hewn to statues, wear his name ; 

Though shrined in adamant, his relics lie 

Beneath a pyramid, that scales the sky ; 

The mouldering rocks, the hero's hope, shall fail, 

Earthquakes shall heave the mountains to ihe vale, 

The shrine of adamant betray its trust, 

And the proud pyramid resolve to dust ; 

The Lyre alone immortal fame secures, 

Fur song alone through Nature's change endures ; 

Transfused like life, from breast to breast it glows, 

From sire to son by sure succession flows, 

Speeds its unceasing flight from clime to clime, 

Outstripping Death upon the wings of Time.'"' 



H 3E (D TDX A IB o 



The Freehold Young Ladies' Seminary was established in 1844. Nine 
years have afforded sufficient time to test the correctness of the princi- 
ples on which it was founded, and in accordance with which it has 
been invariably conducted. It has ever been our conviction that the 
Education of Females could be made thoroughly practical, and at the 
same time nothing need to mar its beauty as an accomplishment. We 
did not believe that the oft repeated assertion, that modern education 
unfitted its subjects for the stern realities of life, need be true. For the 
justness of our opinions we point to the large number of our Pupils 
scattered throughout the community, who are adorning the sphere 
in which Providence has cast their lot. But we have a still stronger and 
more dearly cherished confidence in the practicability of uniting the 
culture of the heart with that of the understanding. The gentle, yet 
powerful influence of the religion of Christ, is that which transmutes 
all human knowledge into intellectual gold. It is to a christian home 
that we would send our own children, and so far as power shall be given 
us, it is such a home that we would prepare for the children of others. 
We are grateful to a kind Providence for His smiles upon our labors. 
Nor would we allow this opportunity to pass without an expression of 
gratitude to our patrons for the continued proofs of their confidence. — 
Every clay's experience makes us more desirous of a free and cordial 
understanding between them and ourselves. On our part, we would 
gladly visit the homes of our pupils, that we might there converse with 
their parents, and learn most perfectly their every wish respecting their 
daughters ; and with a coal from the altar of home, kindle anew our 
own ardor in the work that is given us to do. And, respected patrons, 
we wish that, on your part, you could become more intimately acquainted 
with our daily life. We wish you could stand side by side with us and 
participate for a little season in our pleasures, and see what are some 
of the trials and discouragements which we meet in attempting to dis- 
charge our duties. Of the pleasures of the teacher's life, we need 
not speak— since the world denies that there is such a thing in existence. 
We know that there are such pleasures, and long years of experience 
have taught us that they are far greater in 'number than the things of 
an opposite nature. Hence, though we may often be weary in the 



2 

profession of our choice, we are never weary of it. We cannot but 
think that if you could, for a season, become a part of our little com- 
munity, and watch with us the current of thought and feeling as we 
watch it, and participate in all our anxieties for the healih and happiness 
of your children, that you would at least, pardon us for kindly suggesting 
to you any of the many ways in which we think you could aid us in 
fulfilling your own just wishes. 

Course of Study, &c. For full information respecting the Course 
of Study, Terms, &c, we would refer to our Annual Catalogue, which 
we shall be happy to forward to any desiring such information. We 
merely add here that the School year commences on the first Wednes- 
day in September, and ends on the third Wednesday in July. The 
Vacations are from the third Wednesday in July to the first in Septem- 
ber, and a recess of two weeks at Christmas. This arrangement sets 
us free from confinement during the warm weather of July and August, 
and affords a fine opportunity for another means of improvement— viz : 
travelling. The Principal will hereafter accompany such of the Pupils 
as may desire it, on excursions to the most interesting and instructive 
portions of our country. During the present vacation a large party 
propose to visit the principal cities and most interesting localities along 
the banks of tbe Hudson, and Lakes George and Champlain, and 
throughout New England. It is believed that this will do much to 
awaken an interest in, and extend a knowledge of History. 

The next Session will commence on Wednesday, September 7th. 
Those who propose to enter at that time, will do well to make early 
application to 

A. RICHARDSON, Principal. 

Freehold, Monmouth Co. N. J., July ; 1853. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 994 730 4 




